Alatus
by Phoenix-Fire Power
Summary: His whole life Edward Elric has grown up keeping secrets. The human transmutation. His brother in the armor. And there is one only a even more select few know about Eds secret on his back. His wings.
1. Prologue

**A/N: hey people!**

**You know what sucks? Having so many new bunny ideas for stories yet none of them are for your current stories.**

**I don't really have much more to say right now.**

**Enjoy this story.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Prologue**

Every so often in the human DNA goes in a whole different direction then it was supposed to. In so there happens a mutation.

Some mutations are internal. Some external.

Some both.

A person may be born with two hearts. Two brains. Fingers fused together. Different reproductive organs that the internal organs.

Other mutation however go a whole different road.

* * *

Izumi rapped her knuckles on the bathroom door impatiently.

"Come on out Edward, you've been in there for over an hour." she said through the door.

"I'll be out in just a sec." he answered his voice strained.

Izumi snorted. "You said that a half hour ago. You can't be that constipated. Now come on out."

"One…second." he said back.

Izumi growled under her breath slightly. This kid was going to make her go insane.

"Teacher?" a voice down the hallway asked.

She looked up and saw her other apprentice Alphonse Elric, brother to Edward, walking up to her holding something in his hands.

"What is it Alphonse?" she asked.

He held out what ever it was to her.

"Feathers?" she asked picking one up between her fingers and looking at it.

Alphonse nodded and said "I found those in brothers bed and on the floor."

She twirled it around her fingers before blowing on it gently causing it to fly into the air slightly before landing on the floor.

"On his bed?" she asked.

Alphonse nodded again. "I don't know where they came from."

Izumi nodded and said "Why don't you go and wait for us in the kitchen. I'll get your brother out in a minute." as she cracked her knuckles.

Alphonse nodded fearfully. He glanced at the closed door and for a moment felt very sorry to his brother before obediently.

Izumi turned back to the door and pounded on it. "Edward Elric. You come out of there right now or so help me I will break down this door."

"In a minute." he called back.

Why that snot nosed little brat.

Izumi took a deep breath. She had tried reasoning with him, she had been patient. Enough was enough.

She clapped her hands together and placed them on the door efficiently unlocking the door and entered the bathroom.

She stopped dead when Edward turned to face her clutching one of her kitchen knives.

With blood dripping down it.

With blood on the floor amidst more feathers.

With his back dripping with the same blood.

"Edward." she whispered.

All of a sudden he started sobbing. "I'm…sorry. I don't know…what else to do." he sobbed.

"About what?" she asked gently placing her hands on his shoulders.

The words seemed to get caught in his throat and he motioned with his head to his back.

Gently she turned him around and her eyes widened at the sight.

Two long bumps in his back that he had obviously tried to cut off, with torn feathers on their sides bled down his body.

**Short prologue but I think it should be that way. It was supposed to just give a sample of what's happening.**

**And if anyone is looking at it and wondering 'Why does it sound so familiar?' well I got most of this scene from X-Men: The Last Stand.**

**If anyone has any ideas on what the next chapter should have let me know, I'm always open to ideas.**

**Oh and props to anyone that can figure out what the title means.**

**Until next time this is Phoenix-Fire Power over and out.**


	2. Chapter 1

****

A/N:hey people!

Wow I am so happy for all the positive reviews this story got, I'm so glad you guys liked it.

This chapter is chock-full of Motherly Izumi, something that I hope I did justice to.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"I-I-I'm-m-m so-so-sorry t-t-teacher. I di-didn't know wh-what else to d-d-do." Edward sobbed out.

"Well I can tell you for sure that trying to cut them off isn't the right thing to do Edward." Izumi lectured as she placed bandages on her students back.

Edward didn't say a word however his back still rocked with sobs running through his body.

"When did this start?" Izumi asked.

Edward looked down at his dangling feet. "About a week ago." he answered quietly.

"Why didn't you come to me?"

Edward began to shake again. "I was scared teacher. I didn't know what else to do." he repeated.

Izumi sighed and brushed a hand against his back smoothing any wrinkles in the bandages as she stood up.

Edward looked at her as she said "Well first things first. Let them heal and we'll see just what we're dealing with here."

Izumi thought for a moment before deciding. "I'm going to take you to my doctor."

* * *

"Okay then. You say that they have been here for a week now?" Dr. Benson asked looking at Edwards back.

Edward didn't say anything but nod his head.

"Mm hmm." the doctor mused to himself as he wrote the information on his clipboard. He nodded to himself as he stood up. He ran his fingers over the bumps on Edwards back, careful not to reopen the wounds.

"All right then. This ointment should help heal the cuts on his back." Benson said, handing Izumi the bottle. "And Mrs. Curtis since you are here I would like to talk to you about your medicine."

Izumi nodded and said "Edward please go wait in the other room."

Ed nodded as he pulled his shirt back on and walked quickly to the door and left.

Izumi turned to the doctor and said "So what is on his back really?"

"Truthfully? I have a guess and what I am going to suggest to you, you might not like." he said looking over his papers again.

"Which is?"

"Take him to a vet."

Izumi started for a moment before her eyes narrowed. "If that was some kind of a joke then I don't appreciate it."

Benson shook his head. "No joke. I told you that I have a guess as to what is happening to that boy but a vet can tell us for sure."

"And what is exactly happening?" Izumi asked her fingers curling slightly.

Benson shuffled the papers on his desk and didn't look Izumi in the eye. "There have been about three reported cases in history all together. There might be more however they weren't documented."

"Will you just cut to the chase and tell me what it is." Izumi said her temper running out.

Benson bit his lip. "When the mother is pregnant there are many things that can happen to the child in the womb. Some lethal. Some physical. Some…I can't even name them. This is one of those times."

"What I think is happening to Mr. Elric is that last one. A change on both his insides and the outside. In this case I have reason to believe that he is growing wings."

Izumi blinked. "Wings? As in the wings that birds have?"

Benson nodded. "Like I said this has only happened three times in recorded history but it has happened."

"And does this happen because of the mother? Drugs she might've taken? Did something?" Izumi asked.

Benson shook his head. "This happens entirely in the womb with no fault to neither the mother nor the father. Mutations are rare but they do happen."

Izumi swallowed the lump in her throat. "And the vet? What can he tell us?"

"He will be able to tell if it is truly what we believe it to be. He can make sure that the new growths will grow properly and not interfere in his natural growth."

He took out his wallet for a moment and took out a business card which he handed to her. "If you want my suggestion then go to Jennifer Cather, she'll keep quiet on this if you ask her and she will do the best job."

Izumi nodded taking the card and looking at it. Her student. Going through all this.

Benson cleared his throat gaining her attention. He held up the papers that he had written Edwards evaluation on them.

"You know everything I have written on this?" he asked.

As soon as Izumi nodded he threw the papers into the fire.

"Just for safety measures if you want, the only reason I saw you today was for your medicine." he said, before turning back to papers on his desk.

Izumi smiled and nodded. She stood up and bowed slightly. "Thank you for your help." she said before leaving as she looked at the card once more.

* * *

"We're going to a vet? Why?" Edward asked.

"I will tell you later Edward now hush." Izumi said, staring at each building looking for number 304.

* * *

"Edward, the vet will explain after taking a few tests." Izumi said. She placed a hand on his back and led him into the office.

The smiling face of Jennifer Cather greeted them. "Hello there you two. Charles had called me ahead and let me know you were coming." she bended down in front of Edward and ruffled his head. "So this is the little guy?"

"'M not little." he said smiling slightly.

Jennifer smiled. "Of course your not, that's just how I greet ya. Now come on, lets do those tests shall we?" she said taking his hand gently.

Edward looked over at Izumi fearfully until she said "I'll be right next to you Edward, don't worry."

"If you'll just hoist him onto that table we can begin." Jennifer said, taking her place behind the machines.

Izumi nodded as she lifted the shaking boy onto the table. As the lights dimmed and the machine came to life she gripped his shaking hand in hers tightly.

* * *

"Well Mrs. I have one thing to say. Charles Benson was right. That boy is now a living legend." Jennifer said, looking at the x-rays.

Izumi looked at the papers as well but wasn't able to see what Cather saw. "Explain."

Cather tapped the x-ray that showed Edwards arms. "His bones are clearly made out of a more…lighter substance than the normal human being. Birds have those in order for them to be able to be light enough to fly."

She then tapped the bumps in Edwards back. "These are the beginnings signs of a birds wings. An avian wings are similar to humans just a more modified form. The arms and these future wings should be the only bone changes."

"Bone changes. So there will be other changes as well?" Izumi asked.

Cather was silent for a moment before saying "His lungs might change as well to accommodate the air needed, birds need more oxygen then humans. Physical there should be no changes save the eventual wings themselves."

Izumi leaned back against the counter. "So what can we do?"

Cather took a deep breath and looked at izumi. "Truthfully? Nothing. We have no experience in this and therefore cannot stop it. This sort of case only happens once every few hundred years, maybe even more I don't know. We were never able to get any samples from the person or watch their progress. Most of the time when this sort of thing happened the person was killed because they were seen as an abomination against g-d." Cather bit her lip. "Some saw it as an abomination others saw them as angels sent from heaven to protect the people."

Izumi ran her hands through her hair. "You said that we can't stop it. So then what do we do?"

"Let his own nature take its course. Let the wings grow and let him learn to fly." she smiled slightly. "Truth be told I'm envious, I wish it happened to me."

"You're jealous of a child going through something he has no idea about. Something that no one has any idea about. Something that is considered an 'abomination against g-d'. You are sickening." Izumi snarled out before marching out of the room grabbing Edwards who had been waiting in the other room.

Cather walked over to the window and watched Mrs. Curtis and the Elric boy leave. She looked over to the x-rays once more and bit her lip. Before she even knew what she was doing she had strolled to them, ripped them off the projector, and threw them in the fireplace.

* * *

Izumi took a deep breath as she watched the sun set. All these appointments had taken all day and now they were heading home.

She glanced over at Edward who was crying again, she had just finished telling him everything.

"So what happens now?" he asked looking up at her.

She smiled at him, bent down, and gathered him in her arms.

"I'm your teacher. I look after my students." she whispered to him. "I will protect you Edward. And I will teach you how to use this to your advantage."

****

Ok. It's done.

How did I do Izumi? I'm not really used to writing her.

I hope you guys understood everything that was going on here.

I don't really have that much more to say I guess.

This is Phoenix-Fire Power over and out.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: ****hey people!**

**I decided to update this story while I still have the flame running in my mind.**

**Although it's kinda hard to think of updates for my current stories with all the bunnies breeding like crazy.**

**Big thanks to everyone who reviewed this story.**

**I hope you guys enjoy this chapter; it has a lot of motherly Izumi in it.**

**Disclaimer: ****I own nothing.**

**Three months later.**

"Teacher! Teacher!" Izumi heard Al call as he ran down the hallway.

She lifted her head from her coffee. "What is it Alphonse?"

"It's brother! He's asking for you!" he said, taking her hand and pulling it slightly.

Izumi sighed and stood up. It was too early in the morning for this. "Did he say what's wrong?" she asked the younger sibling.

Alphonse shook his head "He just said to go get teacher. He wouldn't come out from the covers either."

Izumi nodded. "I see. Alphonse go out and help Mason with the crates, I'll go talk to Edward."

Izumi walked to the closed door. Before she entered she took a deep breath and opened the door.

"Edward?" she called out into the dark room. She flicked the light switch on the wall and light enveloped the room.

Her apprentice was sitting on his bed, underneath his covers shaking.

Izumi sat on the corner of the bed. "Edward…what's wrong now?"

In answer he slowly slid the covers off his head and revealed to her his slightly tear-stained face. "It…hurts."

"The wings?"

Edward nodded and turned so that his back faced her. Two miniature wings were protruding from his back. They were tearing the skin away from the back causing the wounds to open over and over. Bones were breaking and fusing and protruding. It was not a gentle process or something that she would wish to her apprentice.

Izumi ran her hands on them ignoring the way Edward flinched when she made contact.

The cuts on her students back had healed rapidly and with each passing day the wings protruded more and more. Now it seems that they had formed fully but would continue to grow in size.

"Can you move them?" she asked.

Edward shrugged. She felt his body start to calm down as her hands ran over his back but saw his arms still shaking slightly.

Izumi ran her hands over the wings once more. "We'll have to get you some bigger shirts until you can fold them against you." she stood up. "Until then you'll wear one of Masons shirts all right?"

* * *

**Four months later.**

"They are growing fast aren't they?" Izumi asked rhetorically.

The wings when they were spread were almost as long as Edwards arm when he held them out.

She ran her fingers over them fondly. They had gone from their previous white to a mixture of gold, almost the same shade of his hair and eyes.

Between the feathers however she picked at some dirt. Her eyes narrowed as she asked "Edward why aren't you washing your wings as well?"

He blushed slightly as he ducked his head. He mumbled something unintelligible under his breath.

"Don't mumble your sentences Edward. What did you say?"

"I said I can't reach them." he mumbled.

Izumi sighed as she stood up, took his hand, and started pulling him towards the bathroom. "If you can't do something on your own do not be afraid to ask for help."

She pushed him into the bathroom and said "Get the bath ready and I'll come in to help you. I have to do something else for a minute."

She then walked to where her husband Sig was busy chopping the meat for their store, he looked up when she entered the room.

"Sig, when you have the time can you please go to the library." she asked her husband.

He blinked in surprise. "Sure. What books do you need Izumi?"

"Any that they have on taking care of birds. I'll need some sort of help with this whole wing business." she told him smiling.

Sig nodded and returned his attention back to the meat.

Izumi smiled and went back to the bathroom where her apprentice was waiting for her.

When she walked in he was sitting on the corner of the bathtub with the water in his underwear.

"Good." she nodded. None of them wanted to see more then they had to. She tapped the bathtub "Now get in."

He hesitantly climbed into the water which flowed around his body fitting around his shape and wings.

Izumi then picked up a new washcloth from the cabinet and began to wash the wings.

* * *

Later that night she sat down at her desk and pulled the books Sig had gotten her from the library to her. She opened the first one and started reading.

Then the second one.

Then the third one.

The the fourth.

Half-way through the fifth her head was starting to spin.

She put her arms on her desk and leaned her head against them. Each book was different. One was on how birds fly. Another was on to take care of them. Another on different types of birds. Another was on their mating habits. She could have lived without knowing some of those facts.

Well the upside was that now she knew how to teach Edward and what to teach him.

The downside was that now she was going to have nightmares about some of these rituals.

* * *

**Five months later.**

Izumi pressed the measuring tape against the wings.

"Not bad, not bad." she said. When they were spread they now went past Edwards arms.

"You can also move them?" she asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

In response Edward flapped the wings creating a slight breeze.

"Can you fly yet brother?" Alphonse asked excitingly.

"That's what we are going to find out Alphonse." Izumi said standing.

"Come along then." she told the siblings.

Edward and Alphonse followed her as she led them to a field far from the prying eyes of the town.

She thought for a moment back to those books Sig had gotten her a while back before she began talking to Edward.

"All right then Ed. These wings of yours" she said tapping them. He was wearing a shirt with slits on the back to let them free for today and a small coat to hide them when they were walking. "is nothing more then another part of your body. Like your arms or legs. And therefore you can use them like those same limbs."

She stands in front of her young apprentice. "Now spread them."

Obediently he spread his wings apart. They shone brightly in the sun, like gold.

"Now concentrate on moving them." Izumi said.

In the end all they got was a twitch.

Izumi sighed. "Okay try again Edward. And concentrate more!"

At the end of an hour all they could do was have the wings create a slight breeze.

Edward was exhausted. He laid spread out on the ground panting slightly.

Izumi felt a headache starting. She stood up and said "Okay Edward. Try one more time and we'll go home."

He hoisted himself to his feet and spread his wings once more. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and concentrated.

He flapped his wings slightly, and then they started to pick up speed.

Then to his teachers amazement and his brothers delighted exclaim he rose a few feet off the ground.

* * *

**Five months, one week later.**

Edward stumbled as he lifted one foot from the ground. His wings flapped keeping him airborne for a minute before they gave up and he fell to the ground with a thump.

Izumi sighed. Something wasn't right the way he did it. She looked around the field and spotted something.

"Edward climb that tree. When you get as high as you can jump off and try to fly." she instructed.

Edward looked at the tree then back at her in horror.

"Do it."

He dutifully walked to the tree and started to climb it. Izumi watched from the base of the tree as he went up.

"Come on I know you can climb higher then that!"

"Don't make me have to throw you up higher."

"Edward!"

Finally he was near the top and even from this distance Izumi was able to see that he was shaking in fear.

"When you jump don't think about it, let your bodys natural instincts take over." she called up to him.

Alphonse was standing beside her trembling at the sight of his brother that high up and about to jump, what seemed to him, to his death.

Edward took a deep breath and jumped from the branches.

His wings immediately started to beat against the empty air and he started to follow gravities path. He gave a few more feeble flaps and for a moment,_ for a moment_, he was airborne. Surprise went across his features.

And then he immediately fell into Izumis waiting arms.

"It's all right. That's why I was here Edward." she comforted the shaky child.

He gave a slight cry as he clutched onto her shirt.

"All right then I think that's enough for today. Let's go home." she said to the boys.

* * *

**Five and a half months later.**

"Okay now before we do this what have we learned?" Izumi asked looking at Edward.

"For the wings to not fight the air but sail with it. Let the wind be underneath the wings and carry me." Edward recited dutifully.

Izumi nodded in approval and pushed him slightly to the tree again. He climbed it once more and without hesitation jumped from it.

She still felt her heart skip a beat every time he did that.

This time he was airborne for much longer. His wings flapped with the air allowing him to fly anywhere in the air.

He also it seemed had started to get cocky because he started to do all sorts of tricks. He flew with his back facing them; he did a few loop-di-loops, from side to side.

"Edward don't get cocky." she called out.

Soon he was flying lower and lower to the ground. This part they hadn't talked about yet.

He landed no problem.

He just landed in a crash.

And into poor, innocent Alphonse whose only crimes were standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When she got to the two of them however they were laughing happily.

* * *

**Six months later.**

They had done it all. Flying, landing, and taking off, everything.

Edward, like always, was a fast learner and had quickly adapted to each new technique she tossed at him.

A few days they worked on landing properly. A few on taking off properly. Jumping into the air, snapping his wings, and taking off. Diving.

A few days when he was flying she would throw something in the air and he would try to catch it, remain in the air, and fly higher all in a few seconds. To hide his wings she taught him to fold them against his back in a way that would be both comfortable and easier to bring them out momentarily.

Something that had caused them some trouble was finding the right way to fold them when he was going to sleep but that's another story.

One of his favorite things to do, and one that still gave her heart attacks, was flying high in the air, diving straight towards the ground without warning, and right before he hit the ground lift up and fly back in the air.

The first time he done that he crashed into the ground and had twisted a part of his wing slightly.

The good part of that was that they discovered that Edwards natural ability to heal was faster than the average human. He was up and flying and running the next day.

She did not neglect her other studies and continued to teach them how to fight, perform alchemy, and survive.

One particular afternoon she had decided it was time for the two of them to have 'The Talk' to their mortification.

After six months she was certain that she had taught him enough to be on his own with his brother. She hoped she had taught him enough to hide it when he had to, use it when the time was right, and not be afraid to live.

**And thus ends this chapter and with Izumi.**

**Now we go onto Resembool and everything there, maybe.**

**And I looked up some mating rituals for birds, I got sent to different kinds of animals. Like Izumi I could have lived without knowing some of those things but it was like a car crash. I couldn't look away.**

**If you guys have anything you want me to put in here or what you think should happen then just tell me.**

**Although something that I can tell for sure is that when they perform the Human Transmutation the Truth will not take Eds wings.**

**I guess that's all for now.**

**This is Phoenix-Fire Power over and out.**


End file.
